Gymnastics Headline

BIRMINGHAM,
Ala. – Another NCAA title returns with the University of Florida national
champion gymnastics team when they head home today. Sophomore Bridget Sloanis the NCAA uneven
bars champion, winning the title today in the NCAA Individual Event Finals held
on the concluding day of the 2014 NCAA Championships at the
Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC).

Sloan’s
winning mark of 9.9375 gives her the third individual title of her career, as
she won the NCAA all-around and balance beam crowns as a freshman in 2013.
Three Gators were a part of the NCAA bars final. Mackenzie Caquatto was fourth at 9.8875
and Alaina Johnson shared sixth at 9.85.

Sloan
also tied for sixth on vault with a 9.9167. In the beam final, Johnson tied for
10th at 9.85 and Caquatto shared 12th (9.8375).

GATOR
NOTES:

·With
her uneven bars title today, Sloan is now the Gators’ career leader in NCAA
individual event titles with three. She also won the 2013 all-around and
balance beam titles.

·Johnson
has advanced to the NCAA Individual Event Finals each of her four seasons with
the Gators. She won the uneven bars title in 2013. During the course of her
career, she has advanced to every bar final, vault in 2011 and 2013, floor in
2011 and beam in 2014.

·Mackenzie
Caquatto earned a spot in the NCAA Individual Event Finals for the final three
seasons of her Gator career. She’s been to the last three uneven bars finals, turning
in her top finish of fourth in 2013 and 2014. She’s also advanced to the last
two beam finals.

·With
Sloan’s win, the Gators have claimed at least one NCAA event title since 2011.

Florida’s NCAA Event Champions

Name

Event

Year

Score

Bridget Sloan

Uneven Bars

2014

9.9375

All-Around

2013

39.600

Balance Beam

2013

9.9000

Alaina Johnson

Uneven Bars

2013

9.9125

Kytra Hunter

All-Around

2012

39.725

Vault

2012

9.8750

Marissa
King

Vault

2011

9.8750

Betsy
Hamm

Balance
Beam

1998

9.8750

Susan
Hines

Vault

1998

9.8625

Vault

1997

9.8875

Maria
Anz

Floor
Exercise

1984

9.7000

QUOTES:

Opening Statement

“Individual
event finals are always an exciting competition, especially after two days of
intense mental and physical competition. It was really nice to see all the
athletes performing and cheering each other on. That’s what I love about it —
especially proud for Bridget on bars.” – Florida head
coach Rhonda Faehn

On how winning the individual title on bars compared to last
night’s team championship

“Looking
back at last year we won as team and we had then next day and I was in three
event finals and I just went out there a had a blast. The mood is so light and
you’re out there talking to everyone, having fun and it’s really incredible to
see a great group of athletes come together cheering on each other to win an
individual event – it’s icing on the cake. Tonight was just a great night for
everyone all around. You never know what’s going to happen in gymnastics, but
it was an awesome today.” – Florida
sophomore Bridget Sloan

NCAA
EVENT CHAMPIONS:

Event

Name

School

Score

Vault

Katherine
Grable

Arkansas

9.9750

Rheagan
Courville

LSU

9.9750

Uneven
Bars

Bridget Sloan

Florida

9.9375

Balance
Beam

Taylor
Spears

Oklahoma

9.9250

Floor
Exercise

Katherine
Grable

Arkansas

9.9625

The
NCAA Individual Event Finals signaled the end of the 2014 NCAA Gymnastics
Championships. The 2015 NCAA Championships are set for April 17 - 19 at the Fort
Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas.